Littering motorists should get penalty points, say Cork councillors

Motorists caught throwing rubbish out of their vehicles should get penalty points on their licences, as they do in France. This would act as a deterrent to fly-tipping, say councillors representing the North Cork region, where roadside littering and dumping of chairs, tables, mattresses, and other household items is ‘industrial scale’ and like organised house clearances.

Councillors also want the Department of Education to put ‘civic responsibilities’ associated with illegal dumping on the school curriculum to make future generations aware of the environmental damage.

Last year, Cork County Council investigated 920 illegal dumping complaints in the county and a special team removed 127.70 tonnes of waste.

The team carried out jobs at 443 sites in 106 days.

At a meeting of the council’s Northern Division, Aontú councillor Peter O’Donoghue highlighted the increasing problem, having identified major dumping of household furniture and appliances in rural woodlands.

Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden said he encountered the same thing, close to the main Cork-Limerick N20 road at a site in Grenagh.

“It seems to be a clear-out of houses. There’s everything you could think out there,” Mr Madden said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O’Flynn then got cross-party support, after he said they should urge the Government to introduce penalty points on driving licences, like the French do.

His party colleague, Pat Hayes, got similar support, when he said that educating younger people about the issue may pay dividends in the future.

Fine Gael councillor Aileen Browne pointed out that council figures show that the Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District has the highest recorded illegal dumping of any of the eight municipals, accounting for 31% of all recorded incidents in the county in 2025.

In total, 80 incidents of illegal dumping were recorded in that district last year.

The second highest was in East Cork, with 29, and the lowest was the Bandon/Kinsale municipal area, with 10.

“It’s very disproportionate. Why? It’s a huge cause of concern for me,” said Ms Browne.

Council officials say it is proving very hard to identify those responsible for the house clean-out- type dumping, because the culprits are careful not to leave any incriminatory evidence that would link them to the site.